LCBO workers and supporters hold a strike rally at a picket line in front of an LCBO store in Toronto on July 6.Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press
For weeks now, Adriano Ciotoli has been busy planning one of the most popular festivals he runs each year at his venue space in Windsor, Ont. The posters for the event, titled “Margaritas and Mojitos,” promise a great crowd, live music – and, yes, 12 different variations of margaritas and mojitos.
The only problem? Because of the unresolved Liquor Control Board of Ontario strike, Mr. Ciotoli is worried he might not have the key ingredient to make those cocktails: tequila.
The province and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, which represents nearly 10,000 liquor store workers, returned to the bargaining table Wednesday – about two weeks since the start of the strike, which has shut down some 669 LCBO stores. The OPSEU said there were no updates, and that they expected talks to continue “late into the evening.”
Still, with no clear end in sight, frustrations have mounted within the province’s hospitality industry as a result of the uncertainty that the strike has introduced to many already-struggling businesses.
“It’s more anxiety than anything else,” Mr. Ciotoli said. “Obviously, as our stock starts going down, and the strike continues on, you do have to start worrying.”
The “Margaritas and Mojitos” event at his venue space, WindsorEats, is at the end of this month. He, like many other business owners, stocked up when the strike was first announced.
But Mr. Ciotoli has since been busier than expected, running through his stockpile quickly. And on the LCBO’s website, which has continued to sell alcohol online throughout the strike, the tequila he usually buys is sold out.
Furthermore, whereas with other types of liquor, he has been able to turn to local Ontario producers – which he generally prefers anyways – some imported products such as tequila are only available through the LCBO, he said.
“It’s not business as usual,” Mr. Ciotoli said. “There’s certain products you can’t get.”
Negotiations between the two sides of the LCBO strike had, until this week, been at a standstill since it began on July 5. At issue in the talks has been Premier Doug Ford’s plan to expand alcohol sales at private retailers in the province – including ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages in convenience stores. OPSEU has argued that the move will threaten the LCBO, a Crown corporation, and its workers’ jobs.
Both sides have dug in since the beginning of the strike. This week, the LCBO launched an ad campaign that laid blame on the union.
“The strike did not need to happen,” says George Soleas, the LCBO president, in one ad. “Let’s end this strike. We are all waiting.”
In response, the OPSEU accused the province of being “unwilling to engage in meaningful discussions.”
According to the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario, some 35 per cent of businesses across the province have been affected by the strike. The main concerns, according to the TIAO, have been limited product availability, slow delivery times, and restocking capacity.
Adam Mintz, who owns an e-sports cafe and bar in downtown Toronto, said he spent nearly two days this week trying to figure out the LCBO online ordering system, which he described as confusing and unintuitive.
“There’s no instruction. No communication. No troubleshooting, and there’s no one you can talk to at LCBO to help,” he said.
And, because he’s now having to make bulk orders instead of buying smaller quantities from retail stores, it’s disrupted his cash flow.
“As a small-business owner, there’s already so many moving pieces, and to have something that normally is just so easy be disrupted – it just disrupts the flow of how I run my business.”
That sentiment is echoed by Kelly Chuang, who owns Fat Cat’s Pizza in St. Catharines. She said that, since the strike, alcohol sales have been up at her restaurant – a positive effect for her business. But, she’s also experienced difficulty ordering off of the LCBO website, and is facing uncertainty as to whether her delivery will arrive in time for when she needs it.
“If I get the inventory before the end of this weekend, I won’t run out of anything. But I don’t know how fast the deliveries are,” she said.
These issues add to an already difficult time for restaurants. Earlier this year, Restaurants Canada said that 62 per cent of restaurants in this country are either operating at a loss, or barely breaking even. Bankruptcies, meanwhile, were up 44 per cent.
The COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns and subsequent shifts in consumer habits, as well as the rising costs for food and labour, have been cited as the main challenges – which Mr. Ciotoli knows well.
“The industry has still not recovered – has not come anywhere close to recovering – from the last few years,” he said.
Many of the business owners around him, Mr. Ciotoli said, are still facing mounting debt: “It’s a death by a thousand paper cuts in the industry right now.”